Chemistry
by XxRoseyxX
Summary: Special Agent Lucy Reynolds just joined the BAU at 23, the youngest agent ever, even younger than Dr. Spencer Reid. She's a genius, and she immediately senses chemistry between her and Dr. Reid. Will it amount to anything..? Starts at Pilot and continues as an episode a chapter. ReidxOC Other pairings: GarciaxMorgan JJxWill HotchxEmily
1. Extreme Agressor

_'This is it..'_ I think to myself as I leave the SUV, and stop in front of the jet on the tarmac. _'I'm finally here.'_ I'm so stuck inside my thoughts that I don't notice the older man standing next to me.

"First day?" He asks and I snap out of my thoughts and turn to him. I nod.

"Y-yeah. I'm the new team member. You're Jason Gideon. I've been to a few of your lectures." I tell him.

"Nice to meet you. These are Agents Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, and Doctor Spencer Reid." He introduces the men in order. I smile and nod my head at them, lingering on Doctor Reid a moment longer than the others.

"I'm Agent Lucinda Reynolds, but I go by Lucy. I'm 23, in case you were wondering. People always ask about my age." I say tucking my hair behind my ear. Morgan chuckles.

"Another kid genius, huh?" He elbows Reid. I twist my ring on my finger.

"I have an IQ of 184 and an eidetic memory and can read 20,000 words per minute." I blurt out and they all stare at me, except Dr. Reid.

"I'm technically a genius, yes." I say suddenly interested in staring at my red converse high tops.

"Call me Hotch. Have you ever been in the field before?" Hotchner asked me. I look up at him.

"Yes sir, I was with Major Crimes division for a little over a year." I tell him and he smiles slightly.

"Alright. Welcome Agent Reynolds. We'll debrief you on the plane." He says heading to the jet. I pick up my duffel bag and my black messenger bag and get on the plane. I find a seat and take in my surroundings. It's a nice plane for the FBI. Agent Morgan sits across from me and gives me a reassuring smile. Once we take off, Reid starts going over the case file.

"His first victim 26 year old Melissa Kirsh. Stab wounds, strangulation-"

"Wait, wait back up. He stabbed her, then strangled her to finish her off?" Morgan interrupted.

"Other way around. Why do you think he started using the belt with the second murder?" Gideon said.

"Strangulation with your bare hands is not as easy as one would believe." I inform them. Reid nodded.

"He tried, probably found that it took too long.." Reid adds.

"So he stabbed her instead." Morgan finishes. I smile.

"And realized it would be hours of cleaning up the blood." Hotch says.

"Next time our boy's got a method- the belt." Morgan says.

"He's learning. Perfecting his scenario. Becoming a better killer." Gideon finishes the debrief.

Morgan is talking to Reid, once we enter the FBI field office, about Gideon. I'm behind them.

"He never stands with his back to a window. When I was between him and a doorway, he asked me to move." Morgan says.

"That's Hyper Vigilance. It's not uncommon in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." Reid explains.

"Just how much disorder are we talking about?" Morgan asks and Hotch catches up.

"Morgan, it's been 6 months. Everything's ok." Hotch tells him and walks ahead to introduce us. Gideon corrects him when he calls Reid 'agent' and not 'doctor'. I stand to the side, watching them.

"He's willing to travel with the body." Gideon says, looking at the map on the bulletin board.

"Then he drives a vehicle capable of concealing one." Hotch adds.

"1 in 7.4 drivers in Seattle owns an SUV." Reid comments.

"Explorer with tinted windows." Morgan says.

"Explorers rate higher with women." Reid says.

"But how do we know it's his car? Ted Bundy drove a VW bug." Morgan asks.

"What about a Jeep Cherokee?" Hotch suggests.

"Jeeps are more masculine." Reid says, glancing at me before looking away.

"We all know how an unsub feels about asserting his masculinity." Gideon says.

"When did the bureau become involved in the case?" Hotch asks.

"After the fourth body. He dumped that one out of state." An agent said.

"On purpose." Hotch adds.

"If so, knowledge of law enforcement does suggest a criminal record." Reid says, eyeing me again.

"Or that he watches television. May I?" Morgan asks, being handed a file.

"So you want to see our suspect list?" The agent asks.

"No we won't look at a suspect list until after we come up with a profile. It keeps our perspective unbiased." Hotch tells him.

"When do we sit down with your task force?" Gideon asks.

"4:00." An agent responds.

"An accurate profile by 4:00, today?" Morgan asks, skeptically.

"That's not a problem." Gideon says, walking to a board.

"Agent Gideon where would you like to start?" Hotch asks.

"At the site of the last murder." He responds pointing to a crime scene photo.

I tag along with Hotch and Reid to talk to the missing woman, Heather Woodland's brother. The dog, Sandy, starts barking at Reid almost immediately.

"No, it's okay. It's what we call the Reid effect. Happens with children too. I'm Agent Hotchner. This is Special Agent Reynolds and Special Agent Dr. Reid." He says introducing us.

"You look too young to have gone to medical school." David Woodland says.

"They're PhD's. 3 of them." Reid says.

"Are you a genius or something?" Woodland asks. I smirk. _'Duh, we both are..'_

"I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified- but I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory and can read 20,000 words per minute. Yes, I' a genius." He says, and I smile a bit. Hotch pets the dog and the brother mentions that Sandy hasn't been eating.

"Not sense, smell. Our apocrine sweat glands releases secretions in response to emotional stress." I inform him and Reid follows me to my place in front of a dresser with a car magazine on it.

"Sandy's worried because you are." Hotch translates.

"David, does your sister drive a Datsun Z?" Reid asks after I show him the magazine.

"No, but she's in the market for one. How did you know?" Woodland asks.

I hold up the Datsun catalog and Woodland takes Sandy outside.

"There's an immediate relationship established between a buyer and a seller, a level of trust. If I want to coax a young woman into my car.." Reid states.

"Offer her a test drive." I finish and he smiles at me, and I tuck my hair behind my ear.

We're in the conference room, forming the profile, I'm looking over the files, while Morgan's pacing tossing a ball in the air, Reid is spinning in his chair,

"Okay, then how bout the fact that on one hand we have paranoid psychosis but the autopsy profile says what?" He asks looking for help.

"Adhesive residue shows he put layer after layer of duct tape over his victim's eyes." I say.

"He knows he wants to kill them, but he still covers their eyes. He doesn't want them looking at him apparently. Ok, but then he takes the body and dumps it right out in the open, murder weapon nearby." Morgan explains.

"Not the M.O. of a paranoid unsub convinced he's being watched or surveilled." Reid adds.

"Paranoid psychosis, but behavior that's not paranoid." Morgan states.

"Maybe he's schizophrenic." Hotch guesses.

"Maybe we just don't have enough for a complete profile." Morgan throws back.

"We have to narrow our list of suspects." Hotch reasons.

"We're looking at less than 12 hours to have to find this woman." Morgan argues.

"Hotch, we don't know anything!" Morgan says.

"Alright, enough. Hotch, tell them we're ready." Gideon says, leaving the conference room.

"We're ready?" Morgan asks, confused.

"Reid, Reynolds. You're good with this? We've got a woman who's only got a few hours to live, an incomplete profile, and a unit chief on the verge of a nervous breakdown." Morgan says to us.

"They don't call them nervous breakdowns anymore." Gideon tells him, coming back in to grab the file.

"It's called a major depressive episode." I tell him.

"I know, Lucy." He says to me. I smile awkwardly at him as we walk out and stand in front of the agents, ready to deliver our profile. I stand next to Reid and play with the sleeves of my black cardigan.

Gideon delivers a complete profile from the little information we have and it was amazing to watch him work. I'd been to a few of his lectures and after watching his process I want to be as good a profiler someday. We find someone fitting the profile and set up a ruse to use me as bait. I walk up to his door and his grandmother answers.

"Hi. I'm sorry to bother you. I'm house sitting down the street, and when I got back, the door was wide open and the lights weren't working. I feel stupid asking this, but is there someone who might be able to take a look inside with me?" I ask the elderly woman and she turns and yells for the suspect, Richard Slessmen. He comes downstairs and walks me to the empty house. We walk in and I cuff him. Hotch goes upstairs and Gideon and Reid walk towards the kitchen, where his family is.

"That the mother?" Gideon asks.

"Grandmother. The mother died in a fire when he was 13." I tell him, walking into the room, wearing a brown leather jacket, white button up shirt, jeans and my favorite red converse that match my bright red hair. Reid smiles at me and I smile back.

"Probably not the only fire in his childhood." Gideon says walking around the house.

"Before his Son of Sam murders, David Berkowitz set a multitude of fires." Reid states walking around the house.

"Exactly how many is a multitude?" Morgan asks.

"According to his diary, 1,400 and..." Reid trails off thinking.

"88." I tell him and Reid nods, smiling at me. I smile back, before I notice Gideon look at me and I look away tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Luring him out was your idea, right Reynolds?" Gideon asks, and I nod.

"It's uh- Lucy. Just call me Lucy." I tell him, awkwardly. I follow Morgan and Reid upstairs into Slessmen's room.

"Relax. You were picked to join this team for a reason, Lucy. Just trust your instincts." Morgan tells me, as we reach the doorway of Slessmen's room.

"Something's not right about this. This is a boy's room, not a man's." Morgan says, after looking around the room. I open a door and find a staircase to the attic, and I head up the stairs to find Reid, Gideon and some FBI techs already up there.

"Wei-chi." I say to myself.

"Here we call it 'Go'. It'd considered to be the most difficult board game ever conceived." Reid says.

"Chairman Mao required his generals to learn it." Gideon informs us.

"It also looks like he's playing himself." Reid adds.

"This might provide an advantage, actually. 'Go' is considered to be a particularly psychologically revealing game. There are profiles for every player, the conservative point counter, the aggressor, the finesser." I tell them.

"What kind of player is Slessmen?" Hotch asks us. Reid and I lean down and look at the game a moment.

"Extreme aggressor." We both say at the same time, and we look at each other before I look away tucking my hair behind my hair and he clears his throat. We walk back into Slessmen's room and find Morgan looking at a laptop, with a login screen with a number 6 at the bottom.

"What's the number 6 at the bottom?" I ask him.

"Number of password attempts before the program wipes the hard drive. You didn't know that, Luce?" He asks me and I shrug.

"Not all that into computers. Think you can break in?" I ask him.

"In 6 tries?" He asks, scoffing.

"Try again. Fail again. Fail better." Gideon says. Morgan looks at him for a minute.

"Samuel Beckett." Reid clarifies.

"Try not. Do or do not." Morgan says, which confuses Gideon.

"Yoda." I say, looking up at them. Gideon looks at me, but he notices something. He picks up a book and flips through the pages and finds a newspaper article about Boston.

"I wanna talk to him." Gideon says walking downstairs. I walk right behind him and stand right against the wall in the kitchen. He slides the book across the table to Richard Slessmen.

"You read my paper. Learn anything?" He asks Slessmen, as he sits down.

"Heirens said a man living inside his head was the one who committed the murders. You said he was lying, that there'd never been an actual case of multiple personalities." Slessmen says.

"You have an academic interest in dis-associative identity disorder or are you just planning your defense?" Gideon asks him. Slessmen just chuckles. Gideon opens the book and pulls out the article.

"You a fan of Adrian Baal's work?" Gideon asks him, showing the article.

"No. I'm a fan of yours. You know, they never give you the real facts about CPR, that outside of a hospital, it's only effective 7% of the time. Your friend had a 93% certainty of dying, but you kept trying even after you'd broken his ribs, even after his blood was all over your hands." Slessmen tells Gideon.

"Why don't you tell us where Heather Woodland is?" Gideon asks him. Slessmen leans back.

"Woodland, isn't she the girl that went missing a couple days ago?" Slessmen asks us.

"Get him out of here." Gideon tells the uniformed officers as he leaves the kitchen. Hotch and I follow him outside.

"Hey." I tell him. Gideon turns around and looks at us.

"He said 'isn't she the girl'... If he'd already killed her, he would've said-" Gideon started to say.

"Wasn't she the girl." Hotch finishes.

"She's alive. We don't know for how long." Gideon tells us.

"Is it true what he said about CPR? I mean, I didn't know." Hotch says

"You want statistics about CPR, ask Lucy." Gideon replies.

"I want to know if you're okay." Hotch says.

"I'm fine." Gideon tells him.

"Are you?" Hotch asks him.

"Think I can't do the job?" Gideon asks Hotch.

"I think you can't be two different people at once." Hotch tells him and Gideon smiles.

"What is it?" Hotch asks him.

"Conflicts in the profile." Gideon says to us.

"2 different behaviors." Hotch says.

"2 different people. There's a second killer." Gideon finishes for him. We head back to the field office.

"A second unsub?" I ask him.

"It's not unusual. Remember Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris?" Gideon asks me.

"1979. They outfitted a van to rape and murder girls in California." I respond.

"Are we looking for someone who fits a similar relationship?" Hotch asks Gideon.

"They're not equals. Slessmen's smart, but he is a submissive personality." Gideon tells us.

"So number 2 is the dominant." I say.

"Authoritative. Arrogant." Gideon supplies.

"Probably not as smart as Slessmen." Hotch tells us.

"He's like the schoolyard bully recruiting a good underling, he'll be protective of Richard. He'll make him feel like he owes him." Gideon explains as we reach the bottom of a staircase.

"If Richard's been up in the attic fantasizing about being an extreme aggressor, this guy showed him how to do it." Hotch says.

"He helped him take the first step." Gideon says. We decide to have Hotch talk to Richard's grandmother and find us a name. He gets the name of Slessmen's cellmate, Charlie Linder. We went to the prison where Slessmen and Linder served their time and talked to the warden. When we walked in some of the inmates whistled and shouted remarks to me, but that was expected.

"Anyone who can tell us more about Slessmen?" Gideon asked the warden.

"Tim Vogel was the security guard covering Slessmen's block. That's him over there. I'll go get him for you." The warden tells us. I finish up my phone call with Hotch.

"That was Hotch. Linder's name came up on a police report." I tell him.

"And?" Gideon asks me.

"He's dead. Car accident 2 months ago. Linder is dead." I tell him. Vogel comes up to us and we walk with him.

"Too bad you guys came here for nothing. I mean, talk about scum. I can't remember how many times I put Linder in solitary for causing trouble with us." He stops to open a gate.

"You'd think the inmates would try to stay on our good side, right? Especially since half our job is protecting them from each other." Vogel tells us.

"You protect them?" Gideon asks him.

"If you're a little white guy? Especially in a prison like this." Vogel comments.

"Linder's 6'4. You talking about Slessmen?" I ask him.

"Oh yeah." Vogel says, nodding.

"Thanks for your help." Gideon tells him. Gideon and I are leaving the prison and wait until the parking lot before talking.

"He befriended Richard, protected him, made him feel like he owed him." He tells me.

"He fits the profile. And did you see them?" I ask him.

"The keys." Gideon answers me. We stake out the parking lot, waiting for Vogel to get off his shift. We see his orange Datzun and call Hotch.

"Hotch, I just found your leverage. His name is Timothy Vogel." Gideon says as I pull out of the parking lot and begin to tail Vogel. It turns out to be a decoy and not Vogel. Hotch calls us and tells us that the suspect's boat is at Allied Shipyard, so we head over there. We apporach the boat with Gideon in the lead and me trailing behind, and suddenly my phone buzzes.

" **Listen to me. You need to wait for backup."** Morgan says into the phone.

"If we wait, the girl is dead." I tell him, as I keep walking to the boat.

" **And if we had waited in Boston-"** Morgan starts to say but I cut him off.

"I can't. You told me to trust my instincts." I tell him hanging up. I walk up and crouch behind a crate to see Gideon with his gun pointed at Vogel, who has a gun to Heather's head. I draw my gun and cover Gideon.

"Come on. What, are you a lousy shot?" Gideon asks and then points his gun away and spreads himself, giving Vogel a clear shot.

"50 feet away. You got a perfect shot. Shoot me." Gideon says to him.

"You think I'm stupid?" Vogel asks him.

"I think you're an absolute moron. I know all about ya, Tim. You're at the gym 5 times a week. You drive a flashy car, you stink of cologne and you can't get it up. Not even Viagra's working for you. You know what that tells me? That tells me that you are hopelessly compensating, and it's not just in your head. It is physical. What did the girls call you in high school? What'd they come up with when you fumbled your way into some girl's pants, and she started laughing when she got a good look at what little you had to offer?" Gideon asks him, antagonizing him.

"Shut up!" Vogel yells at him.

"Short stack? Very little Vogel? I got it. Tiny Tim." Gideon says and Vogel pushes Heather and I shoot him in the chest, but he still gets a shot off and it hits Gideon. I run to him.

"Gideon are you okay?" I ask him and he nods.

"Go look after the girl." He tells me and I walks over to Heather and pull her to me and hold her.

Hotch and Morgan were sitting off to the corner and I'm walking with Reid, and talking with him. ' _It's nice to meet someone who's brain works the way mine does. He understands me.. and he's cute..'_

"You know, Haley and I were looking at baby names. Guess what Gideon means in Hebrew?" Hotch asks Morgan.

"Mighty Warrior." Reid and I both say at the same time and I blush tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Appropriate." Reid says as he intertwines his fingers in mine and we keep walking, and he makes a joke and I start giggling.

Later we're on the jet heading back to Quantico, and I'm curled up on the couch with Reid, and we bot fall asleep almost immediately. After we land, I'm unpacking my stuff at an empty desk right next to Reid's.

As I unpack my things, I start to think about my first case with the BAU and we got the suspect, although I did have to shoot him, and we saved the girl. All in all, I would count this as a good first case. I'm really interested in evolving as a profiler and becoming more social with my team, and a certain cute genius. I hope that soon something might come to happen between us, but for now, I'm happy with how my life is, for the first time in 6 years I'm happy.


	2. Compulsion

I walk to Gideon's office and see that he's telling some trainees about the footpath killer. I stand in the doorway and listen.

"But sometimes these guys are still found by just dumb luck. Berkowitz was caught because of a parking ticket." Gideon tells the trainees.

"Except the cop who caught him wasn't staring down a shotgun like you were." I tell him.

"This is true. This is also a good time to stop." Gideon says to the trainees and they leave his office. I walk in and sit down.

"Okay, I'm curious. Why did he stutter?" I ask Gideon.

"You're on your way to becoming part of the behavioral analysis team, Lucy. You tell me." He says and we exit his office and head into the bullpen. We walk down the ramp, and see Reid playing Chess, and Morgan reading the paper. Gideon walks by Reid and moves a piece.

"Check. Checkmate in 3 moves." He says and walks away, leaving Reid confused. I giggle.

"You know, you'll beat him once you start learning." Morgan says, throwing his paper on his desk.

"Learning what?" Reid asks him.

"To think outside the box." Morgan tells him.

"Question for you." I say to Morgan.

"Shoot." He tells me.

"The footpath killer. Why did he stutter?" I ask sitting down at my desk.

"Come on, Luce. We've all asked him, and he won't say. He wants us to figure it out." Morgan says to me.

"Okay. I'm up for a challenge." I say confidently.

"Good, because these go to you." A blonde woman a few years older than me says, putting a stack of files on my desk.

"Special Agent Jennifer Jareau, JJ if you like." She says holding her hand out.

"Lucy." I tell her shaking her hand.

"Reynolds- highest number of solved cases in Seattle three years running, specialty in well, everything." She says to me and I look at Reid.

"Not bad." I say, nodding.

"Well, I'm the Unit Liaison. My specialty is untangling bureaucratic knots. You'll probably be talking to me a lot. My door's always open. Mostly because I'm never in my office, so just call me on my cell, okay? We'll talk." She says walking away. She stops and talks to Hotch for a second.

"BAU team, can you meet me in the conference room, please? I need to show you something." He tells us as he walks down the stairs. We all get up and I follow Morgan and Reid to the conference room.

"This is from the Phoenix office, Bradshaw college in Tempe, six fires in seven months." Hotch tells us once we're all seated around the table.

"Who recorded it?" Gideon asks.

"A student with a digital camcorder. He was watching a fire in the building across from their dorm. The other person you'll see is his roommate, 20 year old Matthew Rowland." JJ says turning on the video.

"Is that the kid?" Gideon asks.

"Yeah that's him." Hotch replies. We watch the video and see Matthew Rowland stand in front of the door, and he sees gas seeping from underneath the door and he gets lit on fire. We immediately grab our go bags and get on the jet.

"There are two common stressors for a serial arsonist." Reid says as he plays chess by himself.

"Loss of job, loss of love." I say from the couch.

"When was the first fire set?" Morgan asks.

"March. Uh, the next one was in May, and the third one wasn't until September, then two weeks later there were three in one night." Hotch says.

"He's speeding up. Fire's are closer together." Gideon says.

"Hey Reid, Lucy, you got a statistic on arsonists?" Morgan asks us.

"82% are white males between 17 and 27." Reid says setting up his chess board.

"Female arsonists are far less likely, their motive typically being revenge." I say from my spot.

"Sounds like our boy's a student." Morgan tells us.

"Oh, don't be so sure. You rely too much on precedent, you never allow for the unexpected. If he went from setting one fire to three in two weeks time..." Gideon tells us.

"Rapid escalation." Hotch finishes.

"He's gone from the power to damage a building to something far more satisfying. The power over life and death. Who are we talking to first?" Gideon asks.

"Dean of students, Ellen Turner." Hotch answers him. We drive to the college as soon as we get off the plane. We get out of the SUV's when we arrive at the college.

"No badges. I don't want to satisfy the Unsub's need for attention by letting him know he got the FBI here. Try not to look official. Try to look less official, like Lucy." Gideon says and I look down at my jeans, black T-shirt, black leather jacket and my red converse, and my bright red hair in a messy bun on top of my head.

"Um, thanks?" I say looking at Reid who smiles at me. We follow Gideon into the college and meet Dean of students, Ellen Turner.

"Obviously I'd rather be meeting you under better circumstances. This is fire inspector Zhang." Ellen Turner motions to a man behind her.

"This morning the chemistry department reported several bottles of highly flammable chemicals missing." Zhang tells us.

"I'm prepared to evacuate this campus. Thank you." She tells Hotch after he opened the door for her.

"That brings with it its own problems. You might evacuate the arsonist as well." Gideon tells her.

"Then the case goes unsolved, the campus is reopened, but the fires start up again." I say to her.

"Wait, Hotch, Gideon, hold on a second, you said the chemicals were missing today. It says here that one of the previous fires was set with diesel fuel that disappeared from the grounds keeping facility. How long after it disappeared was the fire set?" Morgan asks.

"One day." Ellen tells us. Gideon and Hotch walk away while Reid, Hotch and I head to the last fire.

"Door was locked." Hotch tells us.

"Matthew and his roommate watched as the doorknob turned against the lock." Reid says.

"But the unsub couldn't get in." Hotch says.

"So he pours the accelerant into the room from the hallway." Reid says to us.

"Which means he couldn't see the fire." Hotch tells us.

"But he could hear Matthew Rowland screaming." I cut in.

"Yeah but not for long. He would have left quickly."

"Yeah, to avoid being spotted." I say.

"Pyromania as a mental disorder may just be a simple myth, but we do know from precedent that serial arsonists derive pleasure from pathological fire-setting." Reid informs us.

"Sex and power." Hotch says.

"But a serial arsonist wouldn't just set a fire and walk away." Reid argues.

"He needs to experience it." Hotch replies.

"So why would he set a fire he couldn't watch?" I ask them. Zhang brings us a box containing a device the unsub used.

"They turned the water off just before the fire. The last three were set with these. Two devices, simultaneous ignition." Zhang tells us, showing us the devices.

"There was no device used on Matthew Rowland. Unsub set that one manually?" Gideon asks us.

"He wanted to be there to enjoy the kid's death." Morgan says.

"Not necessarily." Hotch argues.

"Well, if the target was Matthew Rowland, why set the other two fires?" Morgan asks.

"Motives for arson are relatively simple. There's vandalism, crime concealment, political statement, profit.." I say.

"And revenge." Hotch finishes.

"We interviewed Matthew Rowland's roommate. He said Matthew was very well-liked. No reason for revenge." Zhang tells us.

"What about vandalism?" Ellen Turner asks us.

"No, the fires are too sophisticated, and if he's trying to make a political statement, he's not being too clear about it." I tell them.

"There's an underlying strategy in this case. Matthew, firefighters, injured victims. To the unsub, they're not people, they're..." Gideon says.

"They're objects." Hotch finishes.

"More like, uh..." Gideon starts to say.

"Chess pieces." Reid says.

"Exactly." Gideon says, examining a device and throwing it in the box. Reid and I are sitting in our interim office space and are trying to figure out how the device works.

"The timer sets the road flare, which then lights the chemical mixture inside the canister. Simple." I say to Reid.

"Yet sophisticated in its simplicity. I mean, there's a meticulous construction to it." Reid says.

"Chemical accelerant could mean chemistry student." I suggest.

"Could also mean chemistry professor." Reid counters.

"Mmm. I say student. You need self-confidence to lecture in front of a classroom of 30 college kids. Arsonists are socially incompetent. This guy, he doesn't go on dates. He doesn't go to parties. He doesn't feel comfortable in front of groups." I say and Reid looks at me. I blush and tuck my hair behind my ear.

"And of course, he's a total psychopath." I say to him.

"Of course." Reid says. We hear the fire alarm and get to the building in time to see Morgan dragging Gideon out, and the ambulance arrive.

"He might be here watching. Lucy." Hotch says.

"Yeah?" I ask him.

"Take pictures- as many as you can." Hotch tells me.

"You got it." I say, pulling out my camera and snapping pictures of everyone that fits the profile.

I find Gideon in Ellen Turner's office.

"Gideon, we've got police and security interviewing everyone in that building." I tell him.

"How long would it take to finish evacuating the campus?" Gideon asks Ellen.

"This is a college of 10,000 students and faculty." She replies.

"Well, there's another problem with evacuating." I say.

"You mean, we might accelerate the unsub's timeline. Let's round everybody up." Gideon says as he follows me out of the office. We go to our meeting space and pour over all the evidence.

"We've been at this all night and we've got nothing. Look at these expressions. You got fear, a touch of horror, even a little bit of panic. Where's the guy getting off?" Morgan asks.

"When asked about his motives, Peter Dinsdale said, 'I am devoted to fire. Fire is my master.'" Reid says.

"Okay, so who is our boy's master? 10,000 plus students and one has a serious fascination with fire." Morgan says.

"Fire starting is one third of the homicidal triad. An early predictor of adult dis-associative criminal behavior. If we look into his childhood, we'd probably find all three. Bedwetting and cruelty to animals." I tell them.

"Absent or abusive father, trouble with the opposite sex, chronic low self-esteem, M.O. would be dynamic. Evolving. As the fire setting escalates, they thrive on panic, fear. It's just the standard profile of a serial arsonist." Gideon says.

"Based on hundreds of interviews." Reid says.

"Based on precedent." Morgan adds.

"Everything the unsub should be, according to research." I agree.

"We're off the mark." Hotch says to us.

"Because of two missing elements." Gideon says.

"Sex and power- the two motives that drive a serial arsonist." Morgan says.

"And without them, we do not have a profile." Gideon explains. Hotch, Reid and I go to the chemistry department to get help.

"Reid, Lucy, since you're more their age, why don't you two do the talking." He tells us walking away. We look at each other nervously.

"Uh, Hi-hi guys. My name's, uh, Dr. Spencer Reid, and this is Agent Lucy Reynolds. We're agents with the BAU. The behavioral analysis unit with the FBI. Which um, used to be called the BSU, the behavioral science unit but not anymore." Reid starts ranting.

"What he's trying to say is we'd love to know how you can help us." I interrupt Reid and address the students.

"May I please? See this? Drill a hole in the side, fill it with gasoline or whatever's good and flammable. Turn the light on. Boom." A student tells us after taking a light bulb from Reid holding it up for us.

"It is what went down, isn't it?" He asks us.

"The stuff's all over the net. Wanna know how to make a Molotov cocktail that sets itself on fire? Potassium, sulfur, and normal sugar. Sugar. Sugar which is-" A girl tells us.

"Not exactly plutonium. You can get the stuff anywhere." The student holding the light bulb says.

"Sugar from the supermarket." Th girl says again.

"But you don't need to be a chem major to know that." Hotch says.

"Do you think it's a chem student?" Zhang asks us.

"You wanna know what I think? I think it would be a good time to take the semester off." He says. We walk to the elevator and run run into the light bulb kid and I push the button again.

"Hold on, you need a key to get it moving after 10pm." He tells us.

"So what are you still doing here?" Hotch asks him.

"I can't leave. We've all got projects. You know how to solve the three body problem? Computing the mutual gravitational interaction between the Earth, Sun and Moon?" He asks us. We are in our office space and are listening to a recording from the hotline.

"Play it again." Gideon says.

"The call came from the office right next to Wallace's five minutes before the fire was started." Morgan tells us.

"Play it again." Gideon says again.

Karen. I do this for Karen.

"Again, louder." Gideon tells us.

Karen. I do this for Karen.

"What is it?" Hotch asks him.

"I'm not sure. Something about it." Gideon says.

"Is this tape clean?" Hotch asks.

" **Yeah, I can put it through more audio filters."** Garcia says over the video chat. We head to the dean's office to get information on every Karen on campus.

"These are all the women on campus with the first name Karen." Ellen says, setting a stack of papers on the desk. I pick them up and give Morgan half.

"A lot of Karens. " I tell Morgan and he scoffs. We are interviewing every Karen on campus.

"Thank you Karen." I say to the girl and walk her to the door and shut it.

"Karen #7." I tell Morgan.

"You know, there's gotta be a faster way to do this. How about we change the first question to 'Have you recently dated a homicidal pyromaniac'?" Morgan asks me.

"Speaking of questions. Have you figured out yet why the footpath killer stuttered?" I ask him.

"Nope. You?" Morgan asks me.

"I know that embarrassment makes a stutter worse, and that when you're flustered, it's more difficult to control the articulatory musculature of the face." I tell him.

"You sound like Reid." He tells me, pointing at me.

"Well, we have similar IQ's and the same eidetic memory and can read the same amount of words per minute. We share many things in common so it makes sense that we say similar things." I tell him.

"I still have no idea what causes a stutter. Karen #8." I say, walking to the door and opening it. After we finish the interviews, we're all waiting in the office, reviewing the files, when Gideon comes hurrying in.

"Hey Reid, Luce, Garcia says it's not Karen, it's actually something like-" Morgan says.

"Charown." Gideon says, interrupting Morgan.

"Charown?" Reid asks him.

"Charown. I do it because of Charown." Gideon tells us.

"It's hebrew." I say to them.

"It's God's burning anger." Gideon says.

"Yeah." Reid agrees.

"The motive is now religious?" I ask everyone.

"Well, you know in a lot of religions, God is related to fire." Reid informs us.

"Well, Agni is the fire in Hinduism, and the Jews see God as a pillar of fire, and Christians worship God as a consuming fire." Hotch tells us.

"Ok, so we're looking for a theology major. Maybe he's punishing the other students for their sins." Morgan suggests. I toss Reid a salad from the bag.

"I don't want this." He says, setting it on the table and I smile slightly.

"What-what's the most sinful place on campus?" I ask.

"Come on, Lucy. When I was in college that was everywhere." Morgan tells me.

"A fraternity?" Hotch suggests.

"A campus bar?" I add.

"No, because that's not consistent with the previous targets." Hotch argues.

"What about the idea of baptism by fire? Aren't we all supposed to be tested through fire in _Revelations_?" Morgan asks.

"Look, it's good, it's good, but let's please do not jump to conclusions. Religion might be a part of it, but it's not necessarily the prime compulsion." Gideon tells us.

"Gideon, rush to conclusions, jump to conclusions. Who cares? We are running out of time." Morgan tells him.

"Compulsion." Reid says quietly. We look at the video of Matthew Rowland's death again. We stay all night watching the video and comparing ideas while the rest of the team went to the hotel to sleep.

"Outside the box." Reid says erasing the board.

"Keep thinkin' you two. It's like chess. Don't look at just the next move. Try to look three moves ahead." Gideon tells us before leaving. Reid sits at the computer with me and we re-watch the video again. Reid zooms in on the doorknob and we see it turn three times.

"Three times." Reid says and we hurry down the hall to professor Wallace's office and check his desk. We find a class schedule.

"Professor Wallace, Tuesdays, 3:00." Reid says to me. We make our way back into the office and find Hotch and Gideon.

"We know why the profiles never fit. You were right to tell Morgan not to rely on precedent. The fires thus far have been completely task orientated." Reid tells them.

"So once they're set the unsub is done?" Hotch asks us.

"Exactly. The unsub is not a classical serial arsonist. He's someone who uses fire because of a completely different disorder." Reid says to them.

"Which is?" Gideon asks.

"An extreme manifestation of OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. He does everything in threes. And if we're right he'll have to kill again." I tell Gideon.

"There's a form of OCD called scrupulosity." Reid says.

"Religious obsession and compulsion." Hotch explains.

"An obsessive fear of committing sin, which creates so much anxiety that he's compelled to do something to ease that anxiety." I tell them.

"Like setting fires." Hotch says.

"Where's the behavioral evidence?" Gideon asks.

"Right here. All right. Remember the night of the three fires? We saw the doorknob turning against the lock. But he's not trying to get in. He's compelled to turn the doorknob three times." Reid says showing the video, zoomed in on the doorknob.

"Well, what about the fires? The first ones were single fires. If the unsub was OCD, shouldn't they have all been in threes?" Gideon asks us.

"They were in threes. A trinity of threes. The first fire occurred on March 3rd." Reid explains.

"3pm. Third day, third month." Gideon says."

"It's that convergence of threes that causes the overwhelming anxiety. Obsessive compulsives ease the anxiety by performing the compulsion." I tell them.

"What about the other fires? Professor Wallace?" Hotch asks us.

"Office number three. We checked for more patterns of threes. His class was on Tuesdays." Reid tells them.

"Third day of the week." Hotch says.

"Matthew Rowland was in that class. It was his third class of the day. If we looked into each of the fires we'd find a lot of patterns having to do with threes because our minds are incredibly adept at seeking out patterns, but to the unsub, once that pattern hits, bam- he sets a fire." I tell them, and Reid smiles at me, and I tuck my hair behind my ear, smiling back at him.

"But if the target was always people, why did no one die in the first few fires?" Gideon asks.

"They were failures. Up until Matthew Rowland." Reid tells them. Hotch is pacing.

"What is it?" Gideon asks him.

"I think who it might be. And it's not a he. It's a she." Hotch tells us. We call the dean's office and she tells us the name.

" **Clara Hayes. A chemistry student. I'll get you her records now."**

"First get campus security out and find her. She could set her next fire within hours." Gideon tells her. Gideon sends Morgan to Clara's apartment.

"When I was talking to her and her classmates, I noticed something- a ring on her finger. And she kept turning it." Hotch says.

"At intervals?" Reid asks him.

"Of three." Hotch tells us.

"And she counted off the ingredients of a light bulb bomb." Hotch says, and I remember the girl.

"And the word sugar." I say and he nods.

"Yeah. She kept repeating it. Once she started, she couldn't stop." Hotch says.

"Yeah, it's Palilia. It's the involuntary repetition of words. Howard Hughes had it when his OCD worsened." I tell them.

"Clara and her classmates were working on a project about gravitational pull." Hotch says.

"The three-body problem." Gideon clarifies. Morgan calls us from Clara's apartment.

"Moloch was the demon sun god of the Canaanites. In order to keep from incurring his wrath, the people would sacrifice their children to them by burning them alive." I tell them on the phone.

"16 year old survives inferno. The mother Ellen Hayes called it a miracle. 'My daughter was tested by God. He tested my child and she came through blessed. Look at the house number." Hotch reads to us.

"333." Gideon says looking at the picture on the article.

"Security's checking the science building." The dean tells us.

"Well, where else would she be?" Gideon asks.

"We need to find the next pattern of threes." Reid says. Morgan is on the phone with Hotch and then calls back and tells us he found 30 homemade bombs in her apartment.

"Morgan, seal the building. Get everybody out of there and then walk away." He hangs up.

"We need to send our people into every building and have them start pulling fire alarms. Please, go." Gideon tells campus security.

"A map of the campus. We need to find anything and everything having to do with the number 3. Where's the blueprint?" Gideon asks us.

"Jason, wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Clara Hayes is very likely a good person. Someone who never wanted to do anyone any harm, like any other rational person. But there's nothing rational about obsessive compulsive disorder." Hotch tells him.

"Research suggests OCD involves problems in communication between the frontal part of the brain and the orbital cortex. Plus deeper structures. The basal ganglia." I inform them.

"You can't reason with her because you can't reason with a physiological problem. She's not setting these fires because she wants to, but because she has to." Hotch tells him.

"What are you trying to say?" Gideon asks him.

"Don't try to convince her to stop, because you won't be able to." Hotch explains. Reid and I are on the phone with Gideon and looking for her target.

"We're still looking." Reid tells him.

"Focus on the girl." Gideon says.

"She was failing out. This was gonna be her last semester." I tell him.

"That's a stressor. What else?" Gideon asks us.

"She was a researcher in the science building." Reid tells him.

"We know that. They've already cleared the science building." Gideon argues.

"The third floor of the science building is under construction." I say to them.

"I'm on my way." Gideon says hanging up. We caught Clara and are boarding the plane.

"You know, I figured it out. The stutter." I say putting my duffel bag and my messenger bag on my seat.

"You know why the footpath killer stuttered?" Gideon asks me.

"When you and Hotch were talking earlier, that's when I got it. He said he was just trying to stall Clara." I tell him.

"Right." Gideon says, agreeing with me.

"Well, that's it, isn't it? The footpath killer. You were just trying to stall him. You said 'I know why you stutter' because you were buying time. You were stalling. But you don't really know why he stuttered." I say to him.

"I don't?" He asks me.

"I looked it up. No one does." I tell him.

"There are some theories about a neurological basis." Gideon says to me.

"But they're just theories. What really happened in the convenience store?" I ask him.

"I'll tell you what I do know about a stutter. I know how to provoke one." Gideon says before walking to sit across from Reid. I'm curled up in my seat listening to my Pandora play list when I hear my phone chime. I look at the text and feel my blood run cold. _'No... It can't be him... He couldn't have found me.. I've been too careful.'_

"Hey, Luce? You okay? You look like you saw a ghost." Morgan says from across from me.

"Um, yeah. Just-uh, got a text from someone I thought I'd never hear from again." I say, mentally cursing my shaky voice. He notices immediately.

"Who is it?" He asks and I sigh. I hand him my phone so he can read the text.

You didn't think you could hide from me forever, did you Lucinda? I've found you. After 6 years, I finally found you. I'll always find you. Xoxo

"Kyle was my boyfriend when I was 17. He was sweet, then he started to get paranoid, thinking I was going out with other guys, avoiding him, but I was a senior in college at that time, and I was so crammed with classes, and studying for the Academy, I couldn't get time to see him. He hit me. I came up with a plan to run away and I never told him I wanted to be an FBI agent, like my dad is, so once I graduated college, I left. My dad taught me how to hide. Morgan, Reid can't know. I-I- really like him. You're my friend, and I'm trusting you to keep this secret. I'll tell the team if it gets worse, okay?" I tell him and he nods.


	3. Won't Get Fooled Again

After my talk with Morgan I was in no mood to stay and chat with the team like normal. I found Reid at his desk, packing up for the night. I turn off my computer and my desk light and look up.

"Man, it's 1:30 in the morning? I'm heading home, Reid. See ya in 7 hours." I tell him picking up my bags and walking to the elevator, to find Morgan holding the door for me.

"Thanks." I tell him and he nods. The ride down from the 6th floor is awkward to say the least. I didn't mean to tell Morgan about Kyle, but it just came out. He sighs and pushes the stop button.

"Look, I'm not going to tell anyone. That's on you, Lucy. And I think you should just talk to Reid. He's too shy to make the first move." He tells me, smiling reassuringly. I blush, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Um, I didn't mean to tell you about that. I just felt like I could trust you. You seem like the best one to keep a secret." I say to him and he chuckles.

"Well, thanks for that. I do know how to keep a secret. But seriously, you should tell the team. We can help, Luce. It'll give you an excuse to meet Garcia." He tells me and I remember I haven't met the famed technical analyst yet.

"Yeah. I just hate telling people because they pity me. I mean, I was treated differently because of who my father is, and I just wanted to earn everything myself. You do know who my father is, don't you?" I ask him hesitantly.

"David Rossi. We read your file when we were picking the new team member. You were chosen because you are the best for the job, Lucy. You and Reid make a great team." He tells me and I smile.

"Like you and Garcia?" I ask him smirking and he looks away, pushing the stop button again and the elevator moves.

"It's different." He tells me and I roll my eyes.

"I heard you flirting with her on the phone, Derek. I'll make you a deal, okay? You tell Garcia and I'll tell Reid." I tell him and he looks at me shocked.

"Seriously? You're on." He says pulling me out when the doors open and practically drags me to an office at the end of the hall. He knocks once and opens it, and a blonde turns around.

"Hey baby girl, this is-" Morgan manages before she interrupts.

"Oh handsome, you underestimate me yet again. I peeked at her file. Lucy! So you're the female version of Reid? It's so great to finally meet you! I love your hair, it's such a cool shade of red. What's your natural shade? Oh, I'm Penelope Garcia by the way. You can call me Garcia or Penelope, I don't really mind." She says smiling.

"My hair is this red, naturally. My mom had red hair and it wasn't quite as red." I tell her. Morgan looks at me and I nod at Garcia.

"Well, it's amazing nevertheless. Welcome to my lair. Sorry about the mess, I've been super busy lately." She tells me.

"I should probably get home, seeing as I have work in 7 hours." I tell them.

"Well, I'll walk you out." Morgan says opening the door. I nod and grab my bags I had dropped by the door.

"It was great meeting you, Little Red." Penelope tells me and I giggle, blushing. She grins.

"Oh that is so your new nickname! Little Red. I love it!" She says happily. I shrug.

"I've had worse. Bye Pen." I tell her and she winks at me. Morgan shuts the door on the way out and I start to grin at him. He sighs.

"I totally get why you like her, _'Handsome'._ "I tell him and he chuckles.

"And why is that?" He asks me. I take a minute to compose myself.

"She's beautiful, funny, bubbly, unique. I could go on but I think I have it covered." I say and he nods.

"Yeah, but we've been friends for a while. I don't know if I could risk ruining that if she doesn't-"

"She does. It's obvious. You both light up around each other." I tell him.

"You and Reid are different because you don't really know each other." Morgan says as he stops at the elevator.

"You were coming down here anyway weren't you?" I ask him and he grins at me.

"I'm going to talk to her tonight. Be prepared to do the same with Reid in the morning." He says to me as the elevator doors close and I descend to the garage. I get back to my apartment and see that the door was kicked in. I push it open and see that my apartment was completely trashed. Picture frames shattered, pillows and my couch torn up, drawers emptied on the floor. I feel tears running down my face and I realize who did this. I walk back to my car and drive to the first place I think of, pulling up 20 minutes later. I walk to the door and knock, the light turns on above me and the door opens revealing a pregnant blonde woman in her pajamas. I remember that it's the middle of the night.

"Can I help you?" She asks me, concerned and I quickly wipe my face. Hotch comes up behind her.

"Lucy?" He asks concerned.

"Hey boss. Sorry about the timing but I have something to tell you, and I don't think it can wait." I tell him, my voice quivering. He opens the door and I walk in. His wife puts her hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay? You look shaken up. Would you like some coffee, Lucy?" She asks me and I nod.

"Okay. It started 6 years ago.." I tell them everything, starting with Kyle and ending with the break in.

"I wasn't going to tell you but I got home and it just freaked me out. I'm really sorry about waking you guys up. I shouldn't have just came over here like this.." I say and Hotch shakes his head.

"I'm glad you trusted me with this, Lucy. You said that Morgan's the only one you told? Would you be okay with telling the team at work? I think that it would help us find him if we all knew about this." Hotch says to me and my head jerks up to look at him.

"Find him? You want to-? Thank you Hotch. Really. I'll tell the team first thing." I say getting up.

"Do you have somewhere to stay, Lucy?" Haley, his wife, asks me and I nod.

"I have somewhere." I tell them and I wave goodbye before getting into my car and driving to the address Pen texted to me. I get out and walk to the door and he opens the door.

"Hey, Garcia gave me your address. My apartment was broken into and this is the first place I thought of." I ramble and he chuckles, opening the door.

"Come on in, Lucy." Reid tells me and I smile as I walk into his apartment. I finally notice that he is in a gray t-shirt and plaid pants. He has adorable bed head. I giggle and he rubs the back of his neck.

"I can crash on the couch." He tells me and I shake my head.

"It's your bed, Spencer. I'll take the couch. It'll only be for a few hours anyway." I argue. He sighs.

After a few minutes of arguing, we sit on the couch and I tell him everything. He just sits there and listens to me, and when I feel a tear slip down my cheek, he grabs my hand and squeezes it. Eventually we both get tired and I fall asleep with my head on his chest and his hand still holding mine. When his alarm goes off a few hours later, I wake up and realize my position. I carefully get up and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth and get ready. When I'm done putting on my black jeans and black and white stripe sweater, and pull on my red converse, I pull my hair to the side in a braid. After I finish my hair, I leave the bathroom to find an awake and dressed Spencer leaning against the counter drinking coffee and reading the paper. I see a coffee cup sitting at the end of the counter and walk over and pick it up. He looks up and sees me, smiling. I smile back and take a sip of my coffee.

"Thanks for letting me stay here last night." I say to him and he nods.

"No problem. I'm glad you did. And I'm glad you told me." He tells me, putting his coffee down and walking to me. He stands in front of me and takes my hand in his.

"You can tell me anything, you know that right?" He asks me, looking into my eyes.

"Yeah. I know, Spencer. There's something else that I-" I start to say, but our phones ruin the moment. _'Was I actually going to tell him I have feelings for him?'_

"It's Hotch. We have a case." Reid tells me, after checking his phone. I nod looking back up at him.

"We can finish this over coffee when we get back." I tell him and he grins. We grab our stuff and head down to our cars driving to the BAU separately. I get to the bullpen and see that Spencer was talking with Morgan, but stops when he sees me. I wave and set my stuff down at my desk and head to see Pen and she grins when she sees me. I giggle and she motions to close the door.

"What can I do for you, my little Red?" She asks me, smiling.

"My apartment was tossed by my abusive ex boyfriend and I went to stay with Reid last night and I almost told him that I have feelings for him and I have nobody else to talk to about this because my dad is out on assignment in London and I'm rambling." I say, taking a deep breath. She grins at me.

"You like Reid? That's great! Why didn't you tell him?" She asks me excitedly.

"Because Hotch decided to call us both in at that exact moment. We made a date for coffee after the case though. Well, it's not exactly a date it's going to get coffee and talk. It wasn't called a date." I tell her.

"Who else knows about Reid?" She asks me curious. I sigh.

"Morgan. It slipped out as I was explaining about my ex, because he texted me last night and it was just complete word vomit. He was really sweet about it though." I explain and her smile widens when I mention Morgan. I gasp and she looks at me.

"Oh my god, you're glowing. You slept with Morgan! So, how was it?" I ask her and she bites her lip.

"It was, um, not like anything I ever imagined it would be like. He came back here after you left and we went back to my apartment to talk, we told each other how we felt and it just sort of happened. " She tells me and I hug her tightly. _'At least they tell each other their feelings.. I gotta get my shit together..'_

"I'm so happy for you, Pen! I have to go and get briefed on the case. I'm coming over later with a bottle of wine and we're talking all about our love lives!" I say as I hurry out the door towards the conference room. Everybody is gathering as I walk in and I take my seat beside Morgan. Gideon and Hotch come in with files.

"Pipe bombs." Gideon says putting down the picture on the table.

"Packed in cardboard boxes." Morgan tells us.

"Package bombs." Hotch says.

"Sent through the mail?" Gideon asks.

"No. The other picture in your hand is of the switch ATF found. Same mechanism for both bombs, mercury activated." Morgan explains.

"What does that mean?" I ask, not familiar with that form of bomb detonation.

"There are contacts to a detonator on either side of a bent tube full of mercury." Reid explains to me.

"What it means is all you have to do is tilt the package to activate it." Morgan sums up.

"So they couldn't have been sent through the mail. The bomber had to deliver them himself." I infer.

"Exactly." Morgan agrees with me.

"Strange way to commit an act of terrorism. Why go to all this trouble to kill just a few people?" Hotch says.

"Let's recommend not raising the terror alert level for now. No reason to spread panic." Gideon suggests. The door opens and we all turn to see JJ.

"We got news. This is just a local channel but the coverage is everywhere now CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, you name it." She says, turning on the TV.

"So much for not spreading panic." Hotch states. We learn from the reporter that the victim is badly injured in the ICU.

"If the DHS doesn't raise the terror alert now, they'll look weak." Gideon says.

"Make sure Homeland Security knows this is everywhere." Hotch tells JJ and she leaves. On the TV there's a sudden secondary explosion.

"Looks like we're going to Palm Beach. Let's meet at the airstrip in 20." Hotch says. He leaves and the rest of the team leaves to get there go bags. Morgan and I wait in the hallway for Hotch.

"Hotch, listen, they're gonna be sending us bomb fragments by this afternoon. I'm the only one with an ATF background. So if you'd like me to stay behind to supervise the bomb profile, I'm on that." Morgan tells him and Hotch stops walking.

"Morgan, you wouldn't be afraid to be out in the field with a bomber, would you?" Hotch asks him and Morgan scoffs.

"You know, maybe its not the bomber I'm worried about." Morgan tells him, obviously referring to Gideon.

"I thought we were past all that." Hotch says.

"Hotch, Boston sent Gideon into a post-traumatic tailspin. How do we know that won't happen again?" Morgan asks him.

"Morgan I tell you what. Why don't we concentrate on profiling the bomber and not Gideon?" Hotch tells him before walking away.

"Copy that." Morgan says after Hotch leaves. I head to grab my go bag and get on the plane.

"Bombings occurred within 3 miles of each other. First victim was a 74 year old widow, Barbara Keller. Two hours after that, Clurman got hit in his driveway, and 45 minutes later, well we all saw that... Jill Swenson, 35 year old housewife who lived across the street from Clurman. Of the 3, only Clurman survived." Hotch informs us.

"Is there any connection between the victims?" Reid asks, from his seat next to me.

"One. Clurman was a partner in a $10 million condo development deal in which Keller was an investor, and a few weeks ago, the whole deal went bust." Hotch tells us.

"Went bust how?" I ask him.

"Geologists discovered that the land was on methane, the condo never got built, the land became worthless, and Clurman lost a lot of people a lot of money." Hotch tells us.

"So maybe one of them was mad enough to take aim at Clurman." Reid suggests.

"Oh, let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's a little too early to be theorizing about motive." Gideon tells us.

"Then where do we start?" I ask him.

"From the beginning. What do we know about bombers?" Gideon asks us.

"Mostly male, loners, history of criminal activity." Reid says.

"About 50% of all bombings are actually the product of vandalism." I interject.

"And more often than not, bombers accidentally end up blowing themselves up, so the first suspect you always look for in the bombing case are the victims." Hotch says, when I realize something.

"Clurman was the only male. Losing a large business deal like that, it could be a powerful stressor." I suggest.

"Well, then there's the crime scene. Clurman was the only victim who didn't get hit at his door. Why? What was different about this one?" He asks and we land in Palm Beach. We immediately head to the crime scene.

"Before Clurman passed out, what he told cops at the time was that he saw a package sitting on the stoop outside his kitchen door." Hotch tells us.

"Why didn't he take it in?" I ask, walking around the car to the passenger side.

"Why didn't it go off until he got to his car? Its like 50 feet away." Reid asks.

"Joe Reese, one of Clurman's investors, was here before the bomb went off. The cops have ruled him out as a suspect, but he said he saw Clurman get into the car with the package." Hotch says.

"So maybe Clurman wasn't receiving a bomb at all. Maybe he was on his way to delivering one." I theorize.

"But he drops it or tilts it, and it goes off on accident." Reid says, going along with my theory.

"I'd like to talk to Clurman. In the meantime, let's get a warrant to search his house." Gideon announces, walking back to the car. We head to the porch and a man in a yellow polo walks up to us wearing a badge on a chain around his neck.

"Agent Hotchner?" He asks and Hotch looks up.

"Yes sir?" He answers.

"Detective Morrison, Palm Beach PD. I'm lead on the case." He tells us.

"Nice to meet you. This is Agent Reynolds. Agents Reid and Gideon are at the hospital. I think you met Agent Jareau at the station house." Hotch tells him.

"Oh yeah, she's taken over the place." He replies, seeming amused.

"She does that." I explain, smiling slightly.

"ATF hasn't found any hard evidence yet, just some kitchen timers, tape recorders, and electrical switches." Hotch informs him of the progress as we walk inside the Clurman house.

"Yeah It is amazing how many household items count as potential bomb-making materials." Morrison replies, sighing. =128

"Hello? Excuse me!" A redheaded woman walks in with a purple shirt on and Detective Morrison turns to us.

"Mrs. Clurman." He tells us and she approaches us.

"What's going on here?" Mrs. Clurman asks us.

"Mrs. Clurman, my name is Special Agent Aaron Hotchner with the FBI." Hotch introduces himself, showing her his badge.

"What are you doing in my house?" She asks us, still confused.

"There's a copy of the warrant on the table." Hotch informs her.

"I know this is hard to believe but we just need to cover all of our bases. We need to make sure that your husband was not involved in any way." He explains to her.

"Involved? My husband's in the hospital with his leg blown off. What are you talking about?" She asks, getting upset.

"Mrs. Clurman, there are some questions that your husband needs to answer, and the sooner that we talk to him and clear him, then the sooner we can find whoever's responsible." I tell her and an ATF agent calls Hotch over to him.

"We've got something." He informs us and we follow him to the garage, where he shows us a tool box.

"We found this buried on the back of that shelf." He explains and Mrs. Clurman walks over and stares at the box.

"Mrs. Clurman, do you know anything about this?" Hotch asks her, standing up and she looks genuinely surprised. Later, I'm walking around and I notice a picture of Clurman and a young boy. I walk into the kitchen with the picture frame to show Hotch. I ask rs. Clurman about the kid in the picture and after talking with her, I walk in as soon as Hotch ends his phone call.

"Look at this. This is their nephew in Texas. And according to Mrs. Clurman, he was staying with them for a month and left last week." I inform him, showing the picture frame.

"Mercury switches are a little sophisticated for a 12 year old kid." Hotch tells me.

"I'm not saying he's the unsub, but boys his age like to blow stuff up." I argue.

"I'll call Morrison. He'll contact local PD in Texas. He'll pick up the kid and talk to him." He tells me and I walk back into the living room to put the picture back. We all meet at the station because Morgan and Garcia figured out who the bombs were built by.

"Morgan emailed these over. The three on the left are the bombs from yesterday. The one on the right's from the evidence room at Quantico.

"They're all identical. Made with steel reinforcement rods." Reid conforms.

"Adrian Baal." Gideon informs us.

"Who?" Morrison asks, not understanding who Baal is.

"He held our agents in a standoff in Boston last year. He took out six agents and a hostage with one of his bombs." Hotch explains.

"So you're thinking he's behind this?" I ask Hotch.

"Possibly but he's in prison. He's got kind of a cult following, like Charles Manson. It could just be a copycat." Reid informs us.

"There's one way to find out. Let's put the screws to this guy." Morrison tells us.

"No, no, no. Baal's too smart. If we want information from him, we have to handle him carefully, and even then you have to assume that road will lead nowhere." Gideon dismisses.

"You're saying the connection to Baal doesn't help us at all?" Morrison asks him.

"No, I'm just saying let us handle Baal." Gideon replies.

"Look, we just heard from local Texas PD. You were right about Clurman's nephew. He admitted the bomb stuff was his, which is great for the Clurmans but it leaves us with zero suspects. So what do you suggest my men do now?" Morrison asks us.

"Proceed from the profile." Gideon tells him.

"I didn't know we had a profile." He says, confused, so we go into the bullpen and begin to present our profile.

"When we're dealing with a bomber, we're talking about someone who's non-confrontational. If you bumped into him in a cafe, he'd apologize, even if it wasn't his fault." Gideon stars off the profile.

"We would classify this bomber as highly organized based on the meticulous design of his bombs. It means above average intelligence. He probably has a skilled job, a trade, one that allows him to work alone. That's how he was able to make a sophisticated device without raising suspicion. Furniture maker, jeweler, etc." Hotch informs them.

"Background in explosives?" Morrison asks.

"No, not necessarily. You're thinking about a type who likes to blow things up. Gives them an emotional or sexual release. Death? Secondary." Gideon explains.

"Then what's this guy doing?" A uniformed officer asks.

"Murdering. Bombs? Just weapons. And these attacks, they are not random." Gideon answers.

"Well, how do you know that?" Another officer asks.

"By process of elimination. We know bombers fall into a discreet number of categories according to motive. There's the terrorist whose aim is to spread fear. We expect him to strike in a populous area like a subway. There's the politically motivated bomber. He makes a statement by choosing a symbolic target like an abortion clinic. Then there's our unsub. He made bombs designed to kill and he chose his victims specifically by placing the bombs at their stoops. That tells us he has a direct motive. Statistically, he bombs for a profit or to conceal a crime. And it tells us how we're going to find him- through the people he killed." Hotch explains.

"Somewhere among the three victims, there is a direct motive. Keep digging." Gideon tells them.

"Thanks. If you have any questions, we'll be around." Hotch informs them, indicating the profile briefing is over. Hotch and I go into the conference room that is our interim office, and start looking for the motive. JJ walks in, on her blackberry.

"How we doing?" She asks us.

"Frustrated. I can't see why anyone would want to kill a little old lady who collects cats and coins." I tell her.

"Unless somebody wanted the coins. I spent a good chunk of my childhood looking for a 1944 penny worth thousands." He admits and I look up at him, smiling slightly.

"Yes, I was a little bit of a nerd. Is that so surprising?" He asks.

"Not to me. I spent my childhood reading college level books and helping my father with cases." I admit, and they look at me. The phone rings and Hotch puts it on speaker.

"Morgan?" He answers.

"Yeah. I just got the lab results from the powder residues on the bombs. Amonia nitrate, Potassium chloride, and Aluminum powder. Nobody uses that mixture, Hotch." Morgan explains.

"Nobody but Baal." Hotch adds.

"That's right. And the closer I look at these things, the more they're the same. Same weld pattern, same switch assembly, same thread sizing. It's weird, man. This guy's not building bombs, he's forging them. That's the other reason I'm calling you. Baal wrote addresses on his packages in block letters with blue ink. I'm thinking our guy's doing the same." Morgan informs us.

"Ok. I'll set up a press conference, make sure the public knows." JJ says before leaving.

"Thanks Morgan." Hotch tells him before ending the call and his cell phone rings.

"Excuse me." He tells me and I nod as he steps out to answer the call. I look back to the files hoping to find the motive. Hotch gets a call about another bomb so he and bomb squad go to the location while I keep checking for the motive. I walk up to Hotch as soon as he gets back.

"I might have something. Barbara Keller was having trouble insuring some coins she bought. The insurance company thought they might be fake." I tell him.

"So the insurance company's blowing up annoying clients?" Hotch asks sarcastically.

"What if someone sold her the fake coins? She's on to him.. He shuts her up." I suggest.

"Were these coins valuable enough to kill over?" Hotch asks.

"She told the insurance company she thought they might be worth $12,000." I reply.

"Alright. Do you have any idea who sold her the coins?" He asks me.

"No, but she had an appointment with a coin dealer scheduled, I'm guessing to challenge the insurance company's appraisal. A guy named David Walker." I inform him.

"So maybe he can help us figure out who sold her the coins." Hotch suggests so I decide to head over to David Walker's address and talk with him. His wife answers the door and agrees to take me to the garage.

"Personally, I couldn't think of anything more boring than coins and old papers. Are you single?" She asks me and I smile slightly.

"Yes." I tell her.

"I have a word of advice. Don't marry the first guy that proposes. I wanted a pool table back there, but David insisted on making it his workshop." She tells me. As we get closer to the garage we hear a car start as I dig through my black messenger bag for my phone.

"What's he up to now?" Mrs. Walker asks.

"It sounds like a car." I tell her as I find my phone.

"I hope he's not committing suicide. I won't be able to collect life insurance." She says, and I answer my phone.

"Yeah"

"Lucy, it's him. It's Walker." Hotch tells me just as the garage door opens and the car comes speeding out.

"Get out of the way!" I yell to Mrs. Walker as I dive onto the grass to avoid the car, but Mrs. Walker gets hit by the unsub in his car and I shoot at the car as he drives away. Hotch walks over to me as I lean against the railing by the back door.

"You okay?" he asks me and I run my fingers through my curly red hair.

"Yeah, I'm alright, but Mrs. Walker.." I gesture to the poor woman being loaded into the ambulance.

"Yeah, guy's a real peach. Morrison's got a county-wide search out for the car, uniforms are gonna try to find out where his haunts are, and ATF should be here any minute. You sure you're alright?" Hotch asks me.

"Mrs. Walker said her husband spent most of his time in the garage." I tell him, nodding my head in that direction.

"Let's check it out." Hotch tells me, and we walk over to the garage. Once inside, we notice that nothing is out of place.

"Well, we got the organized part right." Hotch comments.

"What's this?" I ask, pointing to a coin attached to some kind of battery.

"I've seen these. It's for electroplating. Look at the date on the coin." Hotch tells me, picking up the clip holding the coin.

"It's half gone." I notice.

"He was using this to build up the metal so he could change the dates on the coins." He explains.

"To increase the value." I add.

"Exactly." Hotch agrees.

"Like what he did with Barbara Keller's coins." I comment.

"Look over here. Check this out." An officer tells us. We walk over to see newspaper clippings of Baal.

"The best. So this is why he chose to use Baal's design." Hotch says and I notice the tarp.

"He was working on something." I say as I take the tarp off to reveal bomb making supplies.

"Make sure Morrison tells your officers that this guy is smart, dangerous, and he has absolutely nothing to lose." Hotch tells the officer. We head back to the station to meet up with the rest of the team.

"So far, nothing from the search." Morrison informs us.

"Well, what do we know about Walker?" Gideon asks him.

"He's a quiet career criminal. Spent 4 years in prison for a series of forged checks when he was in his early 20's. He's now 46. Past 18 years, he owned a store which sold coins, maps, and historical documents. We raided the place as soon as you gave us Walker's name. Most of his inventory was fake, forgeries valued in the millions." Morrison explains.

"But the walls had started to close in on him. We talked to some of his clients, and he was in debt up to his ears and promising stuff he didn't have time to forge." Hotch adds.

"Then Barbara Keller found out that the coins he had sold to her were fake. She threatened to out him." I interject.

"And if she had, all the forgeries would have been discovered, he would have done 20 years." Hotch finishes.

"So he had to shut her up? He planted all those bombs just to kill one little, old lady?" Gideon asks us.

"Yeah, and to throw us off, he made it look like it was much bigger than it was." Hotch suggests. We hear an officer loudly speaking to someone so we turn and look at him. A man walks up, wearing some kind of collar around his neck and he looks nervous.

"Please. Help me." He begs, opening his jacket to reveal a bomb.

"Everyone back- now. We need bomb squad in here." Morrison orders the officers.

"Please.. It's not me." The man tries to tell us.

"Don't come any closer. Put your hands up and walk slowly back out." Morrison tells him.

"I can't. He'll kill me." The man tells us.

"Who will?" Gideon asks him.

"I don't know. He held a gun to me.. Put this on me. He said.. You'll know who he is." The man explains.

"Well, what does he want?" Gideon asks him.

"A helicopter. A passport. He's watching. Once he gets what he wants, he's got instructions to defuse the bomb." The man tells us.

"Walker's close by." Gideon deduces.

"Let's get snipers around the perimeter." Morrison orders.

"Ok, we understand and we're not going to leave you." Gideon tells the man.

"Please.. Take it off." The man pleads.

"Well, we need to figure out how the bomb's put together first." He explains. Tracy, from bomb squad, comes in and takes a picture of the bomb.

"This is a really sophisticated device. It looks like it was probably made by a master bomb maker, which means tampering with any part of it could set it off." Tracy explains.

"So there's no way to just cut the whole thing off of him?" Hotch asks.

"Well, not without cutting these wires. See how they're threaded all around the collar? They could be booby trapped, or there could be a hidden secondary trigger." Tracy dismisses the idea.

"How do we find out?" Morrison asks him.

"Without knowing how this thing's put together, it's gonna take a while. I'll have to x-ray it, try to figure out which are the real triggers, but.. I don't think there's enough time. " He tells us.

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

"There's a timer. We've only got about three hours left." He tells us and we signal to Gideon that we need to isolate the hostage.

"I don't get it. If this guy's a hostage, then why hasn't Walker tried to negotiate with us?" I ask as Hotch and I walk into the bullpen, and the the man strapped with the bomb inside an isolation cube.

"Maybe he's scared or maybe he hasn't figured out what his next move is yet." Hotch suggests.

"We have a bead on Walker. Sniper spotted him in his scope. He's sitting in an office building across the street. It looks like a storage room with a small window facing us." Morrison informs us.

"We could surprise him." I suggest.

"That's a good idea. If he feels cornered, he might give himself up." Hotch agrees.

"Why do you say that?" Morrison asks.

"Because bombers are generally cowards. I'll take a team in, and we'll go in through the back of the building." Hotch tells us.

"This feels wrong to me. Why would Walker let himself be found so easily?" I ask Hotch.

"He wants to be found." Hotch replies.

"Why?" I ask him.

"To negotiate." He tells me.

"Yeah, but then we lose the element of surprise." I argue.

"Well, hopefully we catch him off guard and he gives himself up immediately. If not, we take a hard line and make him feel like he's got no way out. Remember, we have to take him alive. Walker's the only one who can defuse the necklace bomb. Everybody ready?" Hotch asks us and we all confirm.

"We're entering the building." Hotch says into the comm.

"Be careful. At the very least, we know he's got a gun." Gideon warns us through the comm.

"Copy that." Hotch acknowledges and goes inside behind me.

"We're approaching the door now." Hotch quietly says into the comm.

"Copy that." We hear Morrison say. We get to the door, with Hotch on the left and me on the right, and Hotch opens the door. The room is dark and looks empty, so he takes out a mirror to see if he could find the unsub, but no luck.

"David Walker, Federal Agents. Federal Agents!" Hotch announces and after no response, we go in and see the unsub.

"Walker, freeze!" Hotch calls out.

"Ok, please, don't shoot!" Walker yells.

"Show yourself! I'll shoot up the whole room!" Hotch threatens him.

"Ok.." Walker says, standing up so we could see his face.

"Alright, now put your hands where I can see them." Hotch orders him.

"I can't do that." Walker refuses.

"Then I'll shoot." Hotch tells him.

"My hand's on the remote. I told you what I want. The passport, the helicopter, the flight!" Walker explains.

"Walker, listen to me. You're at the top of the FBI's most wanted list. I think you're smart enough to realize there's no way we're letting you go. But here's my counter offer: A chance to get out of here alive. All you have to do is give yourself up. Just slide the gun across the floor. You have until 3. 1.." Hotch tells him, beginning to count down.

"You wouldn't let the hostage die." Walker challenges.

"You want to find out? Don't give yourself up. 2.." Hotch says, counting again.

"Ok! Ok." He says, sliding the gun to Hotch.

"I'm coming out. Don't shoot." Walker tells us.

"Now walk slowly towards me. Let me see your hands, Walker!" Hotch orders him.

"Get out of there now! Now!" Gideon yells through the comms.

"Go! Go! Everybody out! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" Hotch yells as we run out of the room and barely turn the corner of the hallway before Walker detonates a bomb.

"We're fine. Everybody made it out. Everybody but Walker. Is the hostage ok?" Hotch asks into the comm. Gideon and Hotch meet with Baal to make a deal in order for him to help us. He lies about which wire to cut but Gideon realizes it and tells Tracy to cut the blue wire, saving the hostage.

"How'd you know?" I ask him, wondering how he knew Baal was lying.

"He told me. He said given the opportunity of pressing that button, he'd have no choice. All I did was take his word for it." Gideon tells me and I smile, amazed at how well he read Baal. We all pack up our go bags and head back to Quantico. Reid and I talk the whole flight back, about things like our favorite books, movies, colors, things like that. By the time we get back it's pretty late so we decide to get dinner, at my favorite chinese place by my apartment. We end up talking for hours and he head home at about 2am. I lock up and make sure the windows are latched before I put on a black tank top and black and white striped sleep shorts and crawl into my bed, with my gun on my bedside table.


End file.
